Nick's Names
by BxStarama
Summary: Brittany wants to make a nickname for her and Artie, but she doesn't know anyone named Nick.


**AN: Hey, world! This is just a short about Brittany. Seeing as how I'm still new to this, constructive critisim is greatly appreciated. Thank You!**

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Nick's Names

Brittany started chewing on her thumbnail, even though Ms. Sylvester told her not to because Cheerios manicures cost a lot of money. She flipped through the yearbook pages frantically, afraid she'd actually forgotten what her boyfriend had looked like. Or maybe they didn't have a picture for him because he was too short in his chair to fit in the picture frame. She should yell at the photographer for being racist to wheelchairs.

"Where have you been?" Brittany recognized the voice as Santana, but didn't bother to look up. "And since when do you go to the library?" Santana added, with the tone she used when she wanted to make fun of Brittany.

"I want to know how to spell Artie's name, but I can't find him in the yearbook. I think the picture taker was afraid of wheelchairs." Which was plausible. Brittany was afraid of Artie's chair until they started dating. She had nightmares of it running her over once.

Santana pulled the book away from Brittany's hand and looked at the spine. She did that thing where she looks up and sighs. "This yearbook is from 1985." She marched down between the bookcases and Brittany followed silently.

Brittany knew people didn't get her and Santana. Ms. Pillsbury once told her that Santana used Brittany as an emotional punching bag, but she didn't believe it. Santana never hit her, and you can't punch people with emotions (she tried). Its not that Santana is mean to her just to be mean. That's just how Santana was. Like Ms. Sylvester if she was younger and brown. She has bits of niceness under all that mean. Besides, she and Santana could make very cute ladybabies in the future.

Santana scanned the bookshelf and selected a nicer looking year book. "Why didn't you just ask Artie how to spell his name?" She asked, but Brittany didn't answer. They both knew why- she didn't want Artie to think she was stupid. Or remind him that she was stupid. She sat down at another table and flipped through the book, scanning for a pair of really big glasses and goofy sweaters. "What do you need his name for anyway?"

"You know how Finn was talking about Nick's names at the old people wedding?" Santana looked confused but nodded anyway. "Well, me and Artie have been dating for two weeks now, and since its been so long I thought I should do something for him. So I thought I could give us a Nick's name. But since I don't know anyone named Nick, I was going to make up one myself." She looked up at Santana, and saw that Santana was more puzzled than ever. She felt bad that Santana didn't understand, but before she could explain again Santana snatched the yearbook from her hands and began flipping through it quickly.

She then thrust the book back in Brit's hands "Here," she said. "Now hurry up, your going to be late for Cheerios practice." Brittany looked down and, sure enough, her part robot boyfriend was looking up at her with a silly grin on his face. She very carefully copied "A-R-T-I-E" into her hand before gathering her things for practice.

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That night Brit started chewing on her thumbnail again. Making a Nick name was hard. She felt sorry for the all the Nicks that had to come up with them. She looks down at the notebook filled with really stupid names- "ArtieBrittany" "BritArtietany" "ArtBrittanyie"... she crumble the page up and tossed it off her bed, into a messy pile of other pages. She got a funny feeling in her stomach. What if not having a Nick name meant they couldn't date? She really liked Artie. He was the first guy she dated who didn't care about sex (or even kissing, he barely moved whenever they made out). And he was the first guy to ever treat her like a person. He never called her stupid or ditzy, and he even pretended she was smart sometimes. And he even gave her a ride in his wheelchair once. Artie was really cool, even if he wore ugly clothes and was in Glee Club. Besides Santana, Artie was like her best friend, only on wheels.

Suddenly she had a flash of smartness. She quickly scribbled down a name and smiled. She should be named Nick.

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The next day at school, she scans the hallway for Artie, wishing he had a hover chair so she could see him in the crowd.

"Hey" a voice from behind her said. She turned around and saw Artie, smiling up at her. "Why are you so happy today?" he asks jokingly, not mean like Santana sometimes.

"I made something for you." she responded, and pulled out a name tag sticker from her pocket. Artie took it from her hand and made a confused face "It's a Nick name for us, dating." She explained. "That letter's from my name, that's from yours..." she explained. "I made one for me too. So people know we're a couple." Artie suddenly grins, and Brittany knows its not pretend. "You like it?" she asks, just to make sure.

"I love it." he responds, sticking the tag to his chest. Brittany smiled so big it actually hurt (maybe she should start brushing her teeth...) and placed her tag on her Cheerio uniform. For the rest of the day they proudly walk/rolled down the hall of McKinley High, letting everyone know that they were _Arty_.


End file.
